Thorsten Jankowski, a Sculptor of bodies

Thorsten Jankowski

Member of UdA since 2008

Black and white addicted, I see myself as a Sculptor of bodies - the human form is predestinated to create images which rock. When I am taking pictures, I am working. I am conducting, I am analyzing, I am waiting for the right moment, I am anathematising the light, I am seeing, I am concentrated.

"Zeta"

"Tower"

I admire the art of Thorsten since my first look. His black and white nudes, his true passion, are quite outstanding. Like André Brito or Igor Amelkovich, all his pictures are creative, inspired, deeply aesthetical and so original.

The light is always perfect and his interpretation of space full of talent. His "sculptural" compositions are rare and majestic. The poses are worked with a perfectionist attention to the smallest detail.

Yes, without any doubt, Thorsten masters his art with a consuming inventiveness.

"Android"

" Born in 1968 in Braunschweig, Germany, I'm taking images of mankind ever since I can think. I'm specialized in studio portraiture since 2003, and focus in Nude Sculpures since 2005. This is my great goal.

Black and white addicted, I see myself as a Sculptor of bodies - the human form is predestinated to create images which rock.When I am taking pictures, I am working. I am conducting, I am analyzing, I am waiting for the right moment, I am anathematising the light, I am seeing, I am concentrated.

Erotic impact looses its importance instead focusing on the human body itself and its endless variety. My Goal is to achieve a graphical impact with my images.

"Moldau"

"Space nudity"

The fascination on portraiture started in the early 90's – still analog using daylight photography.With the digital aera and studio equipment (Hensel Lighting Equipment) he started shooting studio portraits in 2004. In 2006 he sets his focus on what he calls “sculptural nudes” and “sculptural bodies”.

While shooting with a model he is absolutely not interested in any erotic impact. The form of the human body is the main interest for Thorsten. Creating a graphical image with human bodies and light is the main goal of his work.

"Symmetric"






"Paranoid"

By Bryon Paul Mc Cartney, photographer :

"Bend"

" Thorsten Jankowski's images are engaging and mysterious. He carefully uses light to create a mood of softness that is carefully balanced with models who appear posed as perfectly crafted sculptures.

As a former graphic designer, his images appeal to me as graphic works as well, there is a simplicity in his work that brings the viewer into the image on a direct but intimate level, as if every detail was considered and designed to grab your immediate attention.

Looking through Thorsten Jankowski's work, I found myself wishing that I had taken these photos, I was very jealous in fact. This was my introduction to Thorsten Jankowski's photography.







"Tau"



As a photographer, it is always difficult to write or talk about another photographer's work. In Thorsten Jankowski's case, this is not a problem. Thorsten Jankowski's work immediately stands out, not only because he has such a distinctive style from image to image, but also because you find yourself drawn into his world. You get to see things from his point of view, and in this way, you get a sense of who Thorsten Jankowski really is as an artist.

You see that he is deliberate, that he considers no detail too small, that he is a perfectionist on every level, and that he makes the very most of the very least.

"Body"

"Tonality"

An untitled new series of Franck Bergereau

Three beautiful photographs from three new series by Franck Bergereau. To admire the others, go on his official site.

Watch also his First Feature to know more about his amazing work.

With Art Model Sandrine





With Art Model Chantal











With Art Model Valérie

Crimson Reign interviewed by Michael Vasquez

By Michael Vasquez Crimson Reign

Crimson is a stunning looking woman as well as strong in her beliefs, and her life. Why this black woman is so underutilized is a mystery to me and hopefully to you as well. I've message Crimson over the years, and it was only when I was putting this profile together that I realized the true depth of her work.

 

Bfreeman Photo

UdA:    You were another late bloomer to the modeling world, tell us a little about your beginning and the different type of photography that you were drawn to.

IMAGZEN

C:  I started in 2006 after being placed on disability from my regular daytime job. A local designer, Carlous Palmer saw me standing in front of my son's school, and asked me if I would like to participate in a fashion show he was holding at a local club.  As it turned out, we had met 10 years prior when I modeled in a hair show that he was the stylist for.  After his fashion show, he asked me to participate in a TFP photo shoot that featured his designs. When I went to pick up my photos, the photographer told me about several networking sites such as Model Mayhem, One Model Place, and a few others. He recommended that I post the photos from the shoot to promote myself. And the rest is history.

Fox Village

UdA:      Knowing you are religious, how does that dove-tail with the nude photography.  Were there any barriers you personally had to face and how did the nude work begin.

Ron Ceasar

 C: I wouldn't say that I was a religious person. I believe that there is a creator, or higher power that lives in us all, but I wouldn't call that religious. With that being said, the only thing that really inhibited me in the beginning was my own fear due to the lack of knowledge about what art nude modeling was, me being married at the time, and the hang ups I had about my body. The first time I did  any type of nude work was an implied nude, or topless shoot covered in jewelry.  The first time I did an art nude shoot was with the late photographer Jerry Harke for his book called "Nu Art en Noir et Blanc", a 408 page book of art nudes in black and white. That made 2 firsts for me , as it was the first time my work was published.

Joe Crocetta

UdA:    How did/do you handle requests for more explicit poses.  Have those requests ease off after all the years you have been in the business?

David Segal

 C:  I simply say, No. I've been blessed not to have had many of those encounters or requests. Most photographers view my work and through emails or phone calls, they get an idea where my head is when it comes to that sort of thing.

Stephen Lowell

UdA:    Personally I think you have a lovely face and figure yet you are underutilized, what do you
 figure the reason is?

Rebecca Lawrence

C:  My lack of financial resources to travel, my age, and the fact that not too many photographers are interested in shooting African American art nude models,. While at a weekend  workshop/retreat of models and photographers, I had a conversation with a photographer who actually told me that "There's no money in African American art nude work.  With that being the mindset, not many photographers know how to, nor are they willing to learn how to light darker skinned models." You can imagine the look on my face; however, that statement did shed some light on why I was not hired hardly at all during that event.

Garry M Photo

UdA:    Now this may be too personal and feel free not to answer, you have health issues that have plagued you for some time, how has that affected the modeling?

Shoot Bare

 C:  It has caused me to pace myself more. I no longer pose for art classes because holding poses for a considerable amount of time was becoming painful. On a good day, I would only be able to hold an interesting pose for maybe 10 minutes, which was not fair to the students.

Gary M Photo

 UdA:    I have a close family member who has lupus and she suffers from a light sensitivity and breaks out in a rash if she is in the sun, how does your lupus manifest itself?

David Segal Photo

C:   It varies. It can range anywhere from persistent headaches to joint pain and swelling to Fibromyalgia attacks. The cold weather makes things worse.

David Segal Photo

UdA:     As I said in the beginning, I think that you are a stunning model and if you were closer I'd love to have you as one of my muses.  Do you have that kind of relationship with any photographers?

Ken Tisch

 C:  I used to in the beginning, but that has since changed as most of them have stopped shooting or have moved on to other genres that I won't do like explicit material.

IDG Photo

UdA:    In the grander scheme you are a young woman, where do you see yourself in the next five years.

Ron Ceasar

 C:  In the next 5 years, I will be 50. With my condition, I have learned to take things one day at a time. Hopefully, by then, things would have picked up a bit. I would just be satisfied with be alive and physically capable of taking care of myself

New commented shoots of my dear friend Dave Levingston

Dave Levingston

His site has a very active blog, Dave is prolific
Member of UdA since the beginning

When I asked to Dave for a new article, he immediately answered me a big one yes. I love his enthusiasm and his joy. And he never forgets to warmly thank his Art Models he admires, his Muses.

Dave prefers to photograph outdoors, but to show you all of his talent, I choose some photos in studio.

Before to read him, here are his 4 books I strongly recommend :

" I am a photographer for more than 40 years, I have concentrated on photographing the female figure, often outdoors in natural settings, since 2002.  I believe that artists discover, rather than choose, their subject matter.

For me, women, and specifically the female figure, are the subjects that have repeatedly drawn my attention throughout my years as a photographer.

I photograph the female figure for many reasons.  I believe the female body is the original aesthetic object, the source of all our ideas of what is beautiful.  Therefore, the female figure provides the perfect subject matter, just as it has been an important subject since the beginnings of art.


- Chris! My new  favorite!
- Ok my Dave!

 As you know, I’ve been working on catching up with older shoots in my posts here. But yesterday I did a shoot with the lovely model Liv Sage at one of my favorite places, Blackhand Gorge. I haven’t really even looked at the whole shoot yet, but this one photo did stand out when we were doing it. I couldn’t resist jumping the line and posting it. Thanks Liv.

I choose to work in color rather than black and white because color is more challenging.  I’m interested in the abstraction of objective reality…finding the truth of abstraction in the things we see (but don’t see) every day.  Black and white is too abstract by its nature to be truly useful in this work.  And, besides, the world I see is in color.

There’s something about those large round bales of hay that just cries for a photograph to be made. But it’s harder than it seems to get something that works from them. Fortunately there was a nice collection of round bales at my friend’s farm. So, Kelsey and I took advantage of them.

While I don’t focus on the erotic in my work, I also do not shun it.  The idea that a photograph of a nude woman could be without any erotic content seems absurd to me.  In some of my photographs I like to allow the model to express her own unique personality.

My best photo shoots are with creative models who contribute their own ideas to the work, leading to a creation that goes beyond what any one artist could produce.  I’ve been privileged to work with many wonderful models who often work much harder to create these images than I do.

Dave Levingston winner in PHOTO March 2016

I’m very proud that of the 12 photos I entered in this contest, 11 made it through the judging process to become finalists. PHOTO Magazine has a policy that only one photo from a photographer can be a winner and appear in the magazine. So it’s pretty special to know that they had to chose just one of the 11 of mine that were finalists for the magazine. Any one of those 11 photos would have been equally deserving of publication.

Published in PHOTO (and it is not the first time ! I remember his impatience and how much he was happy when I told him "yes, you are in") :

I once again have a photo in this issue where they publish all the winners of their annual contest. I was very pleased this year that most of the photos I entered were selected as finalists in what they say is the largest photo contest in the world. As it says on the cover above, they had more than 50,000 entries from more than 70 countries.

3 of the 12 selected :

In recent years I’ve worked a great deal outside the studio, exploring the relationship of the figure to the natural environment.  The nude figure seems to me to inherently belong in scenes of natural beauty.  In my photos I seek to integrate and show the interaction of light and shadow, form and patterns and color.

This photo was taken at the end of the last day of about a week of shooting in the Poconos in Eastern Pennsylvania. The sun was getting low when I saw it forming the shadow of those few leaves on a concrete wall at an abandoned farm. I hustled Brooke  Lynne into the spot to take advantage of that fleeting light. I love the result, so I’m very pleased that they chose this photograph for the show.

And, finally, my all-time favorite photo with more than one model. There are actually only two models in this photo of Carhenge, but I did multiple exposures in order to get what I was after with this photo (you may want to click on it to enlarge it to get the full effect) :